


A Simple Little Phrase (“We’ll talk about this later”)

by tawg



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe
Genre: #coulsonlives, Arguements, Established Relationship, M/M, Phil got better, Post Movie, sadfic, talking about feelings? why would we do that?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-04
Updated: 2012-11-04
Packaged: 2017-11-17 23:11:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/554235
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tawg/pseuds/tawg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clint was honestly getting a little sick of the one argument that he and Phil had over and over.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Simple Little Phrase (“We’ll talk about this later”)

Clint was honestly getting a little sick of the one argument that he and Phil had over and over. It could happen right after a mission, or a week later when the bruises were finally fading. It always started with Clint making the same very important point.

Clint would say, “You shouldn’t put yourself in danger like that,” when what he meant was, _I was scared that you were going to die today_.

To which Phil would say, “Everything we do is dangerous.” Clint was pretty certain that Phil actually meant, _Welcome to my world_.

Clint would reply, “Let the superheroes do the crazy stuff. It’s what they get paid for,” though he was actually saying, _Seriously. You’re not allowed to die because what would I do without you?_

And then Phil always countered with, “You’re right. It’s not like there’s anyone on the team who is equally mortal, or that I might have a decade of experience on some of them. I’ll just leave it to the pros.” This one was pretty layered, but Clint was confident that it boiled down to, _I know what I’m doing,_ with a wide streak of _Don’t tell me what to do_.

And Clint would say, “Yeah, you should. That was kind of the whole point of getting yourself a team of pros.” And that clearly meant, _Why are we fighting? I don’t want to fight, I just want you to be safe._

And Phil would get all tight around the edges and say, “Well maybe if those so-called professionals did their job, I’d be able to put my feet up once in a while,” which Clint was pretty sure meant, _I’m already pissed at everyone and everything because people fucked up today, so don’t you dare make my life any harder right now._

Which never failed to rile Clint up, and always led to him shooting back something along the lines of, “When you actually get some kind of skill that ninety percent of SHIELD agents don’t already have? And you get added to the Avengers Initiative instead of hanging around the sidelines? Yeah, then you can tell me how to do my job.” Which, okay, that one could be interpreted a lot of ways. But what Clint always meant was, _I’m scared for you and that’s not something I can deal with and help me out here._

And then Phil would give Clint that look, the look that was all hard jaw and blank face and everything that Clint had worked so hard to tease out and discover locked up and out of reach. And Clint didn’t know what that look meant, exactly, but he suspected that it was somewhere in the ballpark of, _I’m rethinking some life choices right now and they all concern you_. And Clint just had no reply for that.

(Later though, much later, when Clint was lying in a bed and Phil was an impossible distance away – buildings and blocks and boroughs away – and probably not even close to crawling into his own bed, Clint would punch his pillow and twist in his sheets and choke on the one reply that was at the root of all of his problems. But Phil had nearly died and Clint had been compromised enough for one life time, and they were both doing pretty shitty jobs of dealing with that.) 

There were some things that were too big and too complicated and too selfish to yell across a modestly bare apartment, and Clint had no idea how to translate the silence.


End file.
